MIAMI, Oct 30: Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry vowed to "hunt down and destroy" Osama bin Laden if he is elected and criticized President George Bush for failing to capture the Al Qaeda leader.

John Kerry made a terse statement on the tarmac of a Florida airport, before boarding his campaign jet, an hour after Osama's latest videotaped message was broadcast on Al Jazeera television.

But earlier comments he made in a television interview about Mr Bush failing to catch Osama bin Laden in the Afghan mountains in 2001 incited an immediate political firestorm with the Bush campaign.

In his formal statement Kerry said: "In response to this tape of Osama bin Laden, let me just make it clear, crystal clear, as Americans we are united in our determination to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden and the terrorists."

"They are barbarians, I will stop at absolutely nothing to hunt down, capture or kill the terrorists wherever they are, whatever it takes," he said before flying to Miami on his latest swing through Florida.

Mr Kerry's first comments on the issue came about 20 minutes before Mr Bush made his own first public reaction to the tape. The senator's campaign however said that he had not intended to race Mr Bush to react, but that the timing of his remarks were dictated by his flight schedule.

But Mr Kerry's earlier comments on Osama's bombshell appearance were more controversial, in a television interview conducted by satellite with a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, television station.

After vowing to hunt down and kill terrorists, and noting that America was united in that desire, Mr Kerry said: "I regret that when George Bush had the opportunity in Afghanistan at Tora Bora, he didn't use our forces to hunt down and kill Osama Bin Laden. He outsourced to the warlords."

John Kerry has repeatedly charged that Bush let Osama escape in the Afghan mountains, but the line took on much greater significance in light of the tape.

Aides said that Senator Kerry made the comment in the knowledge that there was a tape, but without knowing its contents.

He steered well clear of the line in his next rally, in Miami, vowing only to make America safer than Mr Bush had, and to fight a smarter, more effective and more strategic anti-terror campaign.

Mr Bush however jumped straight on Mr Kerry's comments.

"Unfortunately my opponent tonight continued to say things he knows are not true, accusing our military of passing up a chance to get Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora," Mr Bush said in Columbus, Ohio.

"As the commander in charge of that operation, (retired general) Tommy Franks has said: It's simply not the case," Mr Bush said. "It is especially shameful in the light of a new tape from America's enemy."

The Kerry campaign shot back and accused the White House of playing politics with the "war on terror".

"This is a serious issue, and its disturbing that the White House seems intent on making it a political issue," spokesman Phil Singer said. "The president was briefed on the tape before he delivered one of his most negative and divisive attacks of this campaign.

"America deserves a national security debate on the merits rather, than a president who desperately resorts to distortions, falsehoods and untruths on a regular basis.

"John Kerry was very clear tonight that we will stop at nothing to hunt down and kill the terrorists and that all Americans - Republicans and Democrats - are united in the war on terror. George Bush wasted no time in dividing us again." -AFP